Thursday 16 May 2024

Impressive seabird list

A light early east wind freshened during the day as it mover more to the north.

Seawatch report - Pete
0525-1130 with Mark Prestwood; in unless stated: 
Kittiwake - 147 in 15 flocks- many high flying and some could have been missed
Red throated Diver - perhaps the same three sp seen close inshore on three occasions
Arctic skua 1, 2, 1 then one got off sea and chased terns (2LM, 3 DM)
Sandwich tern at least 50
Arctic Tern - single and flock of 30
Little Tern - one
Black Tern - one 
Gannet - c35
Aythya spp prob Tufted distant flock of three
Common Scoter - just 40
Fulmar - 2 (first record since May 2022)
Little Gull - 1st summer
Bottle-nosed Dolphin - 4-5 chasing ?tuna

Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)
Grasshopper warbler reeling in central marsh 
Lots of Silver Y
A bugs eye view of a Silver Y

Male Small White


Common Buzzard

Grey Heron

First Orchids flowering

Heysham Head (Edward Wilkinson)
Linnet

Goldfinch feeding newly fledged young

Greenfinch 

Wren

Common Whitethroat 

Lesser Whitethroat 

Little Egret

Eider


Not the same fresh faced fox photographed by Janet yesterday

Heysham skear - low water 13:40 (Malcolm)
Just a quick check, it doesn't take long on these neap tides.
Eider 109 - this female surrounded by 13 males, you can just about hear them calling.

Red-breasted Merganser 1
Great Crested Grebe 5
Little Egret 2
Oystercatcher 800
Bar-Tailed Godwit 12
Bar-Tailed Godwit

Knot - there were only 2 on the skear as I walked around. Then as the tide was coming in a flock of 44 arrived, gained hight and headed off to the NW.
Lesser Black-Backed gull with one of the original solitary Knot

Knot gaining height before flying off

Just a nice shot looking north from the skear.
Cormorant and Eider in the foreground with the South Lakes in the background.
Can't imagine why I like being out here!